BALTIMORE — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Baltimore County from using its newly drawn map of County Council districts, saying the boundaries would diminish Black voters’ opportunity to elect their chosen candidates.
U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby ordered the county to adopt a new redistricting map that either includes two “reasonably compact” majority-Black districts or an additional district that meets the requirement of the federal Voting Rights Act and in which Black voters “otherwise have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.”
She said the new boundaries must be adopted by the county in two weeks — “on or before March 8.”
The case was filed by attorneys representing the Baltimore County NAACP and other civil rights groups.
With the backing of the ACLU of Maryland, the plaintiffs sued the county in December, saying that the map the County Council had voted unanimously to approve would violate the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race.
That map maintained one majority-Black district out of seven in a county where Black residents make up almost a third of the population.
The county is divided into seven single-member districts, which elect one council member each.
The plaintiffs support the creation of at least one more majority-Black district among the county’s six other districts, which are represented by white council members.
The county argued it could not create a second majority-Black district without splitting communities and undoing the districts’ compact boundaries. It also said the injunction request came too close to the start of election season, even with a Maryland Court of Appeals decision to push back the candidate filing deadline statewide from Feb. 22 to March 22 because of a legal challenge to the state’s new map for congressional districts.
But Griggsby suggested it would not be a hardship to redo the county map, which will first be used for the June 28 primary.
“The county has ample time to revise its redistricting plan to comply with the Voting Rights Act,” the judge wrote. “This task will be made easier and less time-consuming, because plaintiffs have already provided two viable options for creating two majority-Black districts in the county.”
She wrote that while the county has made “important strides” to remedy discrimination in housing, education and employment, “there can be no genuine dispute that past discrimination in these areas continues to hinder the ability of Black county voters to participate effectively in the political processes.”
Griggsby was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in June, making her the first woman of color to serve as a federal judge in the state.
The council unanimously approved the map in December. The one majority-Black district had 73% Black residents in a county that is 30% Black.
“We’ll see you in court,” the ACLU of Maryland tweeted shortly after the vote. “The Voting Rights Act isn’t optional.”
Democratic Council Chair Julian Jones was in a meeting Tuesday night and could not be reached for comment.
Jones became the first African American person to chair the council when he was first elevated to the role in 2019. He has represented the 4th District, which includes Woodlawn, Randallstown and parts of Owings Mills and Reisterstown, for the last seven years.
The suit was filed by the county NAACP, the League of Women Voters of Baltimore County, Common Cause-Maryland and seven voters.
“”This is huge win for the many Black voters, community leaders and civil rights organizations that challenged Baltimore County’s illegal redistricting plan,” according to a statement released by Common Cause-Maryland that it said was on behalf of the plaintiffs and their lawyers.
“We are determined to ensure that a fair map is created with at least two majority-Black districts that afford Black voters a fair and effective opportunity to elect representatives of their choice,” the statement said.
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